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Ten Reasons to Get Fired Up Over Fedora 10 Part 3

Fedora 10 leads free software distributions in a number of areas. One that is tremendously important to commercial entities is our virtualization platform. As with some other features found in Fedora releases, vitualization tools and capabilities often make their way into future Red Hat Enterprise Linux products. Fedora 10 includes a number of key virtualization features, starting with the Kernel Virtual Machine, or KVM, a technology that resides in every single Linux kernel. Anyone who has a vested interest in virtualization should be looking at KVM for the future of computing, because KVM makes every Linux system a virtualization platform. With 64-bit computing power to be found even in average consumer-grade laptops, KVM is a way for any OEM, IHV, and ISV to deliver powerful virtualization solutions to all sorts of customers, from system integrators to end-users.

Fedora aims to lead the pack in identifying and promoting the best new technologies, so an increased focus on KVM is a key part of the Fedora roadmap. We pioneered some time ago the use of libvirt and virt-manager, a powerful library and a management tool for administering virtual machines that use either KVM or some other back-end technology such as Xen. These tools were developed by Red Hat engineers and premiered in Fedora, and are now carried on in a number of other Linux distributions.

The new and exciting virtualization tool improvements in Fedora include remote installation management, including through secure tunnels. Administrators can provision storage already available on the remote system, or from an available storage pool. There are also increased capabilities for storage management including both iSCSI and LVM. These features combine to make administration of remote hosts much easier even in cases where direct physical access is limited or non-existent. Administrators and operating system hackers alike will find a lot to enjoy in Fedora 10.

#6. The Art of the Remix

A lot of people are content to just have a hit record and stick with it. But in Fedora, we’re just as interested in the remix. We started doing this back in 2006 with our distribution creation tools, and with every release we’ve raised the bar, from Live CDs, to Live USB sticks creatable in Linux or Windows, to persistence.

In Fedora 10 our Live image creation tools now add features for a separate, persistent user home directory where you can store your data and have it migrate seamlessly when you upgrade your Live USB key to a newer release. And there’s more – you can add encryption to this data store for the absolute latest and greatest in security and portability. If you lose your key, no need to worry about the security of your personal information – just keep a backup somewhere for complete peace of mind.

We’ve also set up a “Fedora Remix” design that lets communities form around different derivatives that draw from our enormous pool of entirely free and open source software. A Fedora Remix might enable a community of use, like creative arts, electronics engineering, games, or localization for specific native languages. Or an independent vendor can make a Fedora Remix that includes non-Fedora software for ease of use or a better developer experience. This new community brand mark allows anyone to build innovative new solutions on a rich base of free software. But no matter what goes on top of that Remix, producers can proudly show off that their tools come from Fedora, the leading community distribution, with a minimum of hassle. Keep your eyes peeled for a Fedora Remix that gets you even more fired up.